Here's a link to an editorial written by A.T. Barr from Tactical magazine:
http://www.customknives.com/editorial.htm
I think the essence of this editorial is in the last 2 paragraphs:
"The bottom line is what do our customers want. If they walk up to a Knife maker?s table and he has 30 knives shaped exactly the same, and the action is exactly the same, they know that more advanced technology was used to make these knives. At the other end of the spectrum, you have those makers who forge the steel and produce the screws that are used in their knives. You will find that the majority of makers are somewhere in the middle.
Well-educated knife collectors can see and recognize those differences in how a knife is made, and have made a choice about the kind of knife he/she wants to accumulate. The bottom line is, I feel that the knife maker should tell the customer about the steps he/she used to make their knives. "
Read A.T.'s "bottom line." The key here, and this has been reiterated in our forum by Ed, Ray, and a host of others, is
honesty in the relationship between maker and customer.
So, why do we feel the need to define what it is that we do?
I think that their may be 2 purposes here. The first--and I think this may be the direction that Ray started in--is to define custom knifemaking for ourselves, the makers. What are those distinctions that separate a piece of work that is entirely done the traditional way of the bladesmith, vs. those that incorporate more modern techniques? A custom knife can be made through neo-tribal or primitive methods, or through techniques and equipment that make more efficient use of time (or allow us to screw up faster!
). While we may have our own opinions as to which is the better method or which might produce a better product, in the end, if it looks like a knife and acts like a knife and we know we did the critical steps to make it ourselves, then we can call it a custom knife. The definitions we develop here will be for ourselves and for the education of the newbie knifemaker to help them appreciate the different ways in which a knife may be made.
But the second reason for defining custom knifemaking, I think, is for the other partner in the knifemaking/collecting relationship--the customer. Why? Because there are those out there, whether purposefully or through ignorance, choose to sell knives that are not true custom knives. When this happens, there is no honesty between maker and customer. And this will ultimately hurt the true knifemaking community. These may be large corporations that sell their knives and call them custom, it could be individuals that buy kits and do custom handle assembly, or those that take worn out pocket knives, rehandle them, and re-sell them as custom.
The definition of "custom knife" from a buyer's perspective has a lot to do with their expectation of what they are purchasing or acquiring. If someone is offering to sell them a custom knife, that expectation is that a) they are buying an item that is unique, or at least produced in such small quantities, such that it's value may be enhanced by it's uniqueness, b) the knife has a level of craftsmanship that can only be attained through the individual attention of a small number of artisans toward a small number of pieces, and that quality surpasses that which can be attained by commercial mass production, and c) in some cases, the customer may have some influence in the knifemaking process in either materials or design of the finished product.
We generally recognize the first 2 qualities in any hand made/hand crafted knife (Ray's definition) and in the 3rd quality, where the customer orders a knife with certain qualities, then it is custom made to the customer's specifications (again, Ray's definition).
Can a knife be called custom if it does not have all 3 of these qualities?
For example, Yellowhorse knives have long been recognized:
http://www.yellowhorseltd.com/David%20Yellowhorse.htm. They are built on Buck blades, yet they are highly desired for their uniqueness and artistry. By some of the definitions we've used in the past, these are not really custom knives, and are no different than this example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Finkys-Custom-Ma...QQcmdZViewItem
What is in a name? Several times in the past we have been asked here whether or not it is proper for someone, after installing a handle, or adding filework to a blade spine, for them to add their name to a blade. We tell them no. Should we then, be disturbed by this example from A.G. Russell, as we are disturbed by a newbie who shows up on our forum?
http://www.agrussell.com/knives/hand...ll_knives.html
This link is from A.G. Russell's "Handmade" drop-down box on his web page. A quote from that page reads: "I made knives until the mid 1970s but today seldom make a knife a year. However I do have very talented makers in the United States and Japan who make knives that I am proud to put my name on. I design them and have them made to our standards." A.G. is honest, he does not make the knives. He only designs them. He does put his name on them, and they are handmade, but not by him. In our quest to define custom hand made knives, if we stick by the advice we give to newbies here, should A.G. Russell be putting his name on these knives?
What about this example:
http://www.buckknives.com/custom_knife_shoppe.php
A Buck production knife in which the customer gets to select the handle material. Is this a custom knife? It is certainly not hand made or hand crafted.
There is a wide range of connotations for the terms "custom" and "handmade," apparently even among names recognized by knifemakers. Again, why are we developing these definitions? Referring back to A.T. Barr's comments, there are collectors out there who are not educated, and makers out there who do not communicate the process by which their knife is made. David Yellowhorse clearly marks his knives as being produced by Buck. The guy Finky who sells on Ebay does not tell the bidder that he bought his blade somewhere and only installed a handle.
The honesty is lost when the maker does not communicate what exactly the customer is buying. But can we restore that honesty or communication by defining custom knives?